Three people suspected of being involved in computer software fraud have been arrested. Trading standards officers and police officers executed entry warrants at the homes of a 64 year old man and a 34 year old woman in Birmingham, and a 35 year old man in Swindon. They have been interviewed and released pending further Read ▶

Criminals operated multiple ‘copycat’ websites mimicking official government services The ‘complex fraudsters’ face a further 26 years behind bars if they fail to pay, on top of lengthy prison sentences Three ‘copycat’ website criminals were ordered to pay back more than £6 million between them at a proceeds of crime hearing at Teesside Crown Court Read ▶

This week sees the UK and US national consumer protection organisations go to war against Tech Support scams. National Trading Standards is supporting the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) campaign to highlight the most widespread scam to afflict English speaking consumers. Tech support scams are a class of telephone fraud, where scammers claim to be technical Read ▶

A new, government-backed initiative has been developed to protect consumers and small businesses from the harm caused by the growing trade in fake goods on social media ‘buy-and-sell’ groups. The Real Deal Online programme has been developed by the National Markets Group for IP Protection (NMG) in conjunction with the National Trading Standards eCrime Team Read ▶

A man who operated websites which conned consumers out of £1.6m has been handed a one year suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay £200,000 within 28 days at Leeds Crown Court today. The sentence comes after he pleaded guilty to breaches of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 following a National Trading Read ▶

Don’t miss a trick, be Scam Aware Scams Awareness Month 2018 launches on the 4th of June. The annual campaign raises awareness and takes a stand against the crimes and predatory practices which affect millions of people. Research conducted by Citizens Advice indicates that almost three-quarters (72%) of those surveyed had been targeted by scammers over Read ▶

Two more people have been sentenced after pleading guilty to their roles in one of the biggest online conspiracy cases in UK legal history. Liam Hincks received 11 months in prison on Monday 26 March – which took into account his cooperation with the prosecution – and Caroline Gowans received a two year suspended prison sentence, Read ▶

Six people have today (6 March 2018) been sentenced to a total of more than 35 years in prison after being convicted of defrauding UK consumers out of over £37 million in one of the largest UK online crime cases. They operated a number of ‘copycat websites’, impersonating official government services to sell passports, driving Read ▶

Defendant misled consumers by claiming to be from reputable computer firms Investigation in conjunction with computer firms helped secure conviction A call centre trader who misled consumers by claiming to be from Microsoft to carry out computer repairs has today [26 January 2018] been sentenced after pleading guilty to four unfair trading practices. Narendra Harilal Read ▶

Man sentenced to five years and ten months for fraudulent business A man who ran a large Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check fraud has been sentenced to five years and ten months at York Crown Court today (18th December). Marcus Ashcroft-Jones pleaded guilty to charges relating to websites set up by the defendant Read ▶

Training

The National Trading Standards eCrime Team is helping to build national capacity to tackle e-crime. We provide specialist open-source intelligence and Internet forensics training that meets the needs of local authority enforcement agencies and keeps them up-to-date with the latest online intelligence techniques. This training is available online on request along with specialist equipment to support investigations.

Investigations

We investigate a wide range of e-crimes, online scams and rip-offs of national significance, using the expertise of specialist trading standards officers. These officers can run national level 3 investigations in their own right but also support local Trading Standards officers with their own individual e-crimes investigations.

Forensics

We examine and gather evidence from a wide array of Internet connected electronic devices and storage media seized during investigations. Our state-of-the-art digital evidence unit has experience of extracting and analysing data from just about any type of desktop or laptop computer, tablet, mobile phone or storage medium. They've even taken evidence from an industrial embroidery machine!

Intelligence

The National Trading Standards eCrime Team uses an intelligence led focus to trading standards investigations. We work closely with a team of intelligence officers, analysts and researchers who collect and evaluate a wide range of internal and external e-crime intelligence sources.